“The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.” — Eric McLuhan
Dear Friend and Reader:
Virgo is the sign of healing. We could weave many yarns about how it evolved that way from a primary association with agriculture and food storage; though it has. Virgo, a cousin of the 6th house, in contemporary times can represent practitioners, treatment spaces, and is worth studying for all matters of health and wellness.
The strongest association that encompasses healing is the holistic property of Virgo. And its main function, described as a verb, seems to be about integration — which is the process of making whole.
Virgo’s association with food is a reminder to “let food be thy medicine.” In my experience, the food we eat is the single most significant determiner of wellness.
The expression has a second part, though these days, it’s not safe to “let medicine be thy food,” since it was probably made in a lab in China, and you don’t know the safety or cross-reaction data. (My guest on Friday’s Planet Waves FM, Rebecca Culshaw, will be talking about off-label use of pharmaceuticals.)
Chiron is Associated with Virgo and Sagittarius
When Chiron was discovered in 1977, and named for the first surgeon and teacher of medicine in Greek mythology, it became associated with Virgo. For more than 46 years, this association has gradually strengthened.
Though I prefer not to use the term “planetary ruler” with modern discoveries, Chiron has a strong affinity to Virgo — one of its two most important facets.
The other is the questing aspect of Chiron, which has a strong affinity to Sagittarius. These two primary and equally important expressions of Chiron are the topic of another article.
Speaking of Chiron, Mars in Libra is about to make an opposition to it. This happens once every two years, and is the full expression of both planets. It makes available a kind of spiritual warrior quality that we need dearly today.
Current Events in Virgo — New Moon and Mercury Direct
For Thursday and Friday we have back-to-back events in Virgo: one is the New Moon and the other is Mercury stationing direct. These are fleeting events, describing immediate developments and relationship situations. But they gain extra emphasis for happening close to one another; they are part of the same idea.
As this happens, we are witnessing a national PR push for both “a new variant of covid” and also a new “vaccine” that to me describes the further corruption of medicine. Before I look at the facts involved, let’s check out an ultra-simplified version of the New Moon chart.
The diagram shows three objects in Virgo, and three in Pisces. In Virgo are Mercury (Virgo’s traditional planet) stationing direct, plus the Moon and the Sun at the New Moon.
The events in Virgo seem ordinary enough — a New Moon, which happens there once a year; and Mercury direct in one of its own signs, which happens occasionally. However, Mercury retrograde represents a question rather than a statement. If the question is not addressed, there’s likely to be a misunderstanding.
Retrograde Mercury is also an essential time for reflection and self-inquiry. In Virgo, the message is to stick to the details, and get them right. One essential quality of Mercury moving to direct motion is that it can come with a perk of information.
At its best, Virgo is inspired by knowledge and curiosity. It’s one of the most important signs representing reasoning and curiosity.
Slow-Movers Aligned in Pisces
Developments in Virgo have counterparts in Pisces. There are three slow-moving objects moving through the last sign. Across the dial in Pisces are Saturn, Nessus and Neptune. You can see the oppositions drawn in the purple lines that cross the Solar System. The Earth is in the middle of the diagram, not shown.
The most recent arrival of the three to Pisces is Saturn, which changed signs from Aquarius in March. Despite its unfriendly reputation, Saturn is the saving grace here; the boundary; the reality principle asking to be invoked.
Next is Nessus, which arrived in Pisces in 2014. Nessus is a centaur cousin of Chiron, with a distinct dark side. This is related to revenge, transgressions, the danger of “gray-areas,” and the consequences of a long chain of events.
The story of Nessus involves the conveyance of poison both as the coating on an arrow, and its transmission in the form of a “sexual fidelity potion.” With Nessus, the karma returns to its source, though this can take a while. Unremembered events set things in motion, though the boomerang — or the poison — eventually comes home.
Then there is Neptune, which entered Pisces in 2011. Neptune in Pisces is the invisible whale in the room of society. It represents the current obsessions with fantasy, virtual reality, and points to both anesthesia and denial. Cannabis, the ultimate Neptune in Pisces state of mind, is now part of mainstream American society.
Neptune is the most sublime essence in astrology, and it’s also the easiest to corrupt. The same quality that inspires poetry also describes pernicious liars. What inspires musicians to compose also can lead them to use heroin.
When Planets Oppose Neptune or Nessus
When planets oppose Neptune, that’s a warning that the floor is slippery, and the search for truth (such as it exists) is libel to slip. In this setup, the Moon and the Sun are opposing Neptune. They are also opposing Nessus — the New Moon is opposite the midpoint of the two N planets in Pisces.
By the way — the definition of a centaur includes that it crosses one or more orbits of other planets. Nessus crosses the orbit of Neptune, and is similar to it. Both have associations with toxins and deception. And while you may not think of Nessus as inspiring music, actually, most of the sagas you hear about on popular radio have roots in the Nessus myth: jealousy, deceit and “he/she done me wrong.”
Relating this to the Virgo New Moon, the chart is vibrating with caution to meticulously evaluate all claims, particularly related to food and medicine. The Moon and the Sun are soaked in Neptune/Nessus, and Mercury is still retrograde (and has yet to tip its hand).
As this opposition is at full strength, we are witnessing the attempted rollout of Covid 2.0. Here in the Northeast, everywhere you go, people are “masking up.” Now we are told we have to wear an N-95 to walk down the block. The image below gives an example of the PR campaign pushing the gullible into this.
A headline across the full- width of a daily newspaper is usually reserved for something like the president getting shot.
By the way, there are 15,000,000 “variants” of the what is said to be the SARS-CoV-2 virus (“covid” is not a virus; the D stands for, disease with no clearly defined set of symptoms). The article does not say that. There is also no original “copy” of the alleged virus to match against. So this is like someone saying they’re your 38th cousin from Ethiopia showing up for Thanksgiving and asking to move in.
By the way — the “health officials” referenced in the sub-header means the New York State Department of Health. I have covered these devoted public servants on and off since 1983. They are the ones who let people with children live next to a hazardous waste dump, and put young students in dioxin-contaminated dormitories.
And when people get sick, as a result, they blame a virus.
Just two weeks later, The New York Times was leading the way announcing the new shot. The author is someone known personally to me — previously, she was a shill for the wholly flawed, never once validated “covid test.” I know her well enough to know that she writes exactly what she is told to write.
CDC recommends the shot for everyone aged six months or older? Really? No qualifications, warnings, or contra-indications? No mention of holding off if siblings have died of vaccine reactions? There are few things in this world that I deem more outrageous than injecting a six-month old with anything at all.
None of these outlets even meekly suggest that there is a safety problem. No mention that throughout 2020 it was reported hundreds of times that “covid” has nothing whatsoever to do with children.
The next day, MIT’s Technology Review clarifies: this is the seasonal shot — “this autumn’s covid vaccines.” Who didn’t see that one coming?
If these were reliable sources of information serving the public good, they would mention the table below, which tabulates reports of disease and death to the CDC following “vaccination” from 1990 through 2023. The CDC releases this data and it’s re-published in human form on a website called Open VAERS.
Media are Concealing Vast Numbers of Covid Vaccine Deaths
No corporate media outlet is reporting that as of today, the CDC knows about 36,135 covid vaccine-related deaths. But we sure do know about George Floyd. (CDC’s own formulas say the real number may be 100 times higher.)
You have an absolute right to know about this — and to have an explanation as to why the facts above are not in every single article that references the covid shot. To leave it out is journalistic fraud.
Yet this is all happening in a chaotic, confused world where people are grasping for any modicum of certainty. Often what is not true seems the better option, because it is simpler.
Most people living in our time are also driven out of their ability to think or reason due to overexposure to digital conditions. Our bodies are now the targets of a terrorist campaign. Two-thirds of American adults are already taking one or more prescription meds. So to take a little more seems like a normal thing to do.
Digital technology invades and corrupts the mind, and it takes a lot of creativity and will to avoid being driven insane by our current environment.
So taking a shot of mystery juice, said to contain genetic instructions that program your body to manufacture an inflammatory toxin, can seem like a wholesome thing to do. We forget about the fact that “breakthrough cases” are the norm, and the only people who seem to “get covid” also got the shot.
You may not know that in 2019, there was a conference at the Milken Institute that centered on rebranding “the flu” and introducing an mRNA shot that would get better than the presumably dismal 23% market saturation that the flu shots of the time were getting. If you are curious, one of the best-ever Planet Waves FM programs is devoted to the issue. You don’t need to listen to more than the first 30 seconds to get the point. Both audio and video are included.
We Are On Notice to Take Care of Ourselves
I would rather not have to write about this, but I feel a moral obligation to tell you what I know; based on what I have spent nearly four years learning. Not everyone wants to read this; for those who take them, vaccines are on the level of holy communion and social responsibility.
We might want to ask why we are still dealing with this when we’re told that 10 billion covid shots were injected into people’s arms throughout the world.
We are in a time when you have a deep responsibility to yourself to find out what is happening in the world as it may affect you. You are responsible for what you do not know — it ends up being your problem. And when you need a reasoning process, consider the precautionary principle: What do you assume in the face of missing information? Have you considered the worst-case scenario, and is the best case worth taking that risk? Do you evaluate the credibility of those offering you “information”?
What else are you doing to take care of yourself?
We all know it’s difficult to make life changes, though it helps if you have a positive motivation. Yes, it’s difficult, and there seem to be endless factors stacked against making progress. This seems to be one of the basic facts of life on our planet.
The New Moon in Virgo, paired with Mercury stationing direct, is a good time to commit to being whole and well. More than anything, Virgo is about integration, which is another way to say integrity: of mind and body, of our bodies and the Earth, and the environments in which we live.
With love,
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Planet Waves Weekly for Sept. 14, 2023
If you are a new trial member, or new Substack subscriber, welcome. After much testing (and rebuilding the PW site 12 times), I think Substack is the perfect platform for Planet Waves. You are invited to leave a comment below. — efc
By Eric Francis
ARIES — You have just passed through some turbulence that may have shaken up your work-related life, such as unexplainable scuffles with higher-ups. Mercury at the end of its retrograde is not making matters simpler. I think your best strategy is to lay low through the week, paying attention to what is going on around you. There will be openings for you to make changes and put some of your plans into action. Yet there is no rush, and it would be unwise to lurch. One of the mistakes people aware of Mercury retrograde make is trying to get it all done as soon as the retrograde ends (4:12 pm EDT on Sept. 15). Rather, conduct little experiments here and there; probe your environment to see how your ideas are received. Also, it’s a good idea to keep your ears open for facts, figures and other information that may have been missing.
TAURUS — Focus on originality rather than success. Explore your ideas rather than thinking you’re going to have a big winner. Mercury stationing direct will offer you something new, if your mind is open enough to notice and to embrace the idea. Its value is not its “sell-ability” but rather that it is in some way intelligent, interesting or beautiful. Think like a child, and if you can, have some conversations with one or two. That will help remind you that no matter what you are looking at, you can see it in a new way. Never settle for one answer to a question, or one solution to a problem, no matter how simple it may seem. Even seemingly elementary puzzles can have a diversity of possible keys that turn the lock. Creativity means finding the one that is most suited to your circumstances and needs.
GEMINI — Now would be the time to have a potentially difficult discussion related to household or family matters. If you live alone and such things are not factors, make necessary repairs, reorganize trouble spots and clear out what you don’t need. Small adjustments to the flow of your interior living space can make a big difference in the flow of your life. One area to pay attention to is food storage such as pantries, cupboards and your refrigerator. Look through your supplies and let go of what you know you don’t want or don’t need, and what may be past its use-by date. When you restock with fresh supplies and ingredients, do so modestly, paying attention to what you did not need and did not use the last time around. Don’t forget to sweep and wipe up storage areas. If you’re Jewish, you recognize this as a Passover thing. If you’re not, you probably haven’t done it for a while.
CANCER — After spending many years in Gemini, an important early centaur planet has started its journey across your sign. The object is Asbolus, its theme is being able to stand up to adversity; it will be in Cancer until 2040 and serve you well as the world continues its birthing process into the Next Age. The early years (and the final years) of a transit are the most important, and this just began in August. Because Asbolus strengthens the qualities of strength and endurance, you may be noticing the many things calling you to rise to the occasion. Remember that not everything is a confrontation. You cannot count on the worst always happening, and you have many allies and strategic advantages. The real gift of Asbolus is remembering that all we call life has many things in common, the most significant of which is the drive to keep going. Do this in a beautiful way and keep the notion of survival way at the back of your mind.
LEO — Continuing with the theme of “be what you do,” this is rarely comfortable at first, but comfort is not the point. Being true to yourself is the point, and that is worth any inconvenience. Most people don’t feel that way, so those who strive to be true have yet another point of resistance. And this often adds to the sense of discomfort. Neither is that the point; your motto could be, “My life is not about them. My life is about me.” This is the big lesson that so many refuse and resist — and yet life is offering you an opportunity to embrace, engage and claim who you are. Just remember, it’s always a little (or a lot) awkward, until it is not. Eventually, you not only get used to any tension; you will breathe it like oxygen. Whether people claim to respect you or not is irrelevant. As you may be discovering, ultimately, your quest is one for self-respect.
VIRGO — Mercury stationing direct in your sign later this week will help you unravel several complicated and seemingly urgent situations you’ve been dancing with for the past month or so. However, that will include the discovery that maybe they were not so pressing after all; and that the thing missing was a vital bit of information that suddenly makes things much simpler. The reason to wait until after Mercury retrograde to make decisions and life maneuvers is specifically because you may not know what you do not know. You might not even know the question exists. Mercury stationing direct always comes with a peak of data and other revelations that can shift your view and allow you to either sidestep potential problems or confront them with much greater efficiency. The motto of Mercury retrograde should be printed on a coin that says, “It’s worth the wait.”
LIBRA — Everyone is a big star, though you’re getting a moment to shine brightly. Yet here is the question, and it pertains to every topic. For instance: If you visit the Great Pyramid at Giza, do you take a selfie and say to everyone, “Look at me! I’m here!” — or do you walk up to the thing, take some detailed photos, and a few perspective shots, and write detailed, accurate captions? You may say it’s not a choice of one or the other. But I disagree. Either the world is all about you, or the world is all about what you learn, observe and discover. The difference pertains to your mental orientation. Your life is always about you. That can mean putting your body in front of something, or revealing what you are witnessing. Which is more relevant? Which one will you be able to study in the future, and keep learning from? Now, apply this question generally.
SCORPIO — The meaningful planet Ceres has entered your birth sign, which it does every four years. She arrived with several questions. An important one is, how does the food you eat make you feel? Do you think about what goes into your mouth, and what it contains? And do you consider what comes out of your mouth, and how it makes you and others feel? Regarding the first question, I’m reminded of something Dr. Andy Kaufman said to me during one of our late-night conversations in Thailand: most people cannot even tell when they’re thirsty. This reveals a significant cutoff from sensation and the messages one’s body is sending. It’s possible to pay attention, and to note what, in truth, is not so subtle after all. After a while, how you feel becomes more important than how something tastes, whether it’s convenient, or what your habits might be. However, that is predicated on actually taking note of what your body is telling you.
SAGITTARIUS — Living on your reputation has never been more complicated. Part of the challenge is that in a world where anyone can say anything about any person or any issue, it’s difficult to have one. Yet the most important thing is that you not be confused about who you are. That said, for as bold as Sagittarius is said to be, humility is a vestment you wear well. It’s best to understand the nature of your talent and your abilities, while never boasting about them. Let your accomplishments speak for you. Yet this is not about what “the world” might think, but rather any individual or organization you are serving. For you, a reputation is something you express in the moment, through your devotion and sincerity. The combination of a New Moon and Mercury moving direct at the very top of your chart is your reminder to speak softly, and walk lightly.
CAPRICORN — On the occasion of Mercury moving to direct motion in Virgo (your solar 9th house), I’d like to bring up this odd thing called “belief.” Here is how it works. There can be all the evidence-based proof in the world; sincere witness testimony; and legit data supporting or discrediting a position. And someone can simply say, “I don’t believe it.” And that’s it — none of it is true; objective truth is eclipsed by this thing casually called “belief” — often, never to be questioned. Or, one can be told their whole life that they are worthless, but if they believe in themselves, they can accomplish great and unlikely things — even what some would call the impossible. I suggest that you come to a full stop every time you hear yourself say or think the word, or when you find yourself accepting something without evidence, or contrary to it. Pay attention. Take note.
AQUARIUS — The great changes that will help you establish a new foundation of your life will take place in the spring. Leading up to then, you are being guided into a new idea and direct experience of who you are. And before that happens, it’s necessary that you clear a few more obstacles from your ‘unconscious’ mind. Maybe you’ve had the feeling of getting a splinter of wood or glass embedded in your skin. Your skin heals over it, but your body is constantly working to push it to the surface. Then when it breaks the surface and comes out, your skin will rip a little, but it’s the most excellent feeling because you know that’s what it’s taking to get the foreign object out of your body. Now imagine this as a psychic experience, pertaining to fear, guilt, and denial. And in that process of breaking through the surface of your mind, you will feel your true passion.
PISCES — A collection of nine retrograde planets now embody Pisces and signs on either side: Capricorn and Aquarius in one direction; Aries and Taurus in the other; and three planets retrograde in your own sign (Saturn, Nessus and Neptune). The signs close to one’s own are also closely related to one’s own — representing values, resources, ideas, inner thoughts and feelings, and what you share with your friends. And in all of these areas of your life, planets are moving in what would seem to be reverse. That may seem to impede progress; in truth you are being called inward, and summoned to reconcile with yourself in many different ways. Yet consider what a retrograde planet is: it means the Earth is close by. So there is a sense of proximity to all that is natural, all that is the most real, all that is older than life and yet alive in its own right. That is you.
Next Week on Planet Waves FM: A Sort of Homecoming
Virgo, Pisces & the Corruption of Healing. Weekly Readings from Planet Waves.